Nuggets Were Prepared for Trade They Didn’t Want to Make

Al Harrington and the Nuggets began life without Carmelo Anthony on Wednesday against Memphis. When Denver took a big lead, the crowd chanted, “Who needs Melo?”Credit
Barry Gutierrez/Associated Press

DENVER — Josh Kroenke and Carmelo Anthony faced each other in a college game nearly eight years ago. Anthony was the splendid freshman for Syracuse, the eventual national-title winner. Kroenke played for Missouri as its captain and an all-academic performer. Anthony scored 16 points and grabbed the win.

Last summer, the two engaged again, this time with much higher stakes that would transform the Knicks and the Denver Nuggets. Anthony requested a meeting in Baltimore with Kroenke, who had just assumed the role of front-office decision maker from his father, Stan, who had been the team’s owner.

Anthony asked to be traded to the Knicks or the Chicago Bulls, or the Nuggets would risk losing him without any return in free agency, Josh Kroenke said Tuesday. Leon Rose, Anthony’s agent, and Bay Frazier, Anthony’s friend and business associate, also attended the meeting in Baltimore.

“I wouldn’t say I was bum rushed,” Kroenke said. “I was prepared. I knew what was coming at me. I just didn’t know the details of it. I know a lot of people around the N.B.A., so people were kind of giving me a heads-up of what they were thinking.”

Last summer’s conversation culminated this week with the completion of a three-team, 13-player deal that centered on Anthony. In between were months of starts, stops, rumors and, finally, the trade of one of the game’s best offensive players.

“As much as we did try to show him there was a future here, there was never any wooing on our part,” Kroenke said. “Carmelo made it very clear to me personally that it was probably going to be a situation where he wasn’t going to be here next year.”

At the meeting, Kroenke informed Anthony — who said the request was made with his family in mind — that a trade to the Knicks would be difficult. But the Bulls would not include Joakim Noah in a deal, and Anthony did not want to sign a contract extension with the Nets despite their tenacious efforts to acquire him.

Kroenke and Masai Ujiri, Denver’s first-year general manager, met with Donnie Walsh, the Knicks’ president, when the Nets hosted Denver on Jan 31. Less than two weeks earlier, the Nets’ owner, Mikhail D. Prokhorov, abruptly canceled his team’s pursuit of Anthony, only to resurface in discussions last week. The Nets and the Knicks wound up bidding against one another.

“Whenever the trade became close, it was myself and Jim Dolan on the phone, and I didn’t have any direct conversations with Donnie,” Kroenke said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect with Donnie because Mark Warkentien, who was here the last several years and was just hired in New York, speaks very highly of Donnie.”

Kroenke and Ujiri addressed the trade in a news conference after weeks of “No comments” and expressed relief and concern, but said they had to submit to Anthony’s preferences to maximize their return.

Photo

Nuggets Coach George Karl was still talking about making the playoffs after the team traded away two of its stars.Credit
Barry Gutierrez/Associated Press

“We feel we got killed in this trade because we lost a couple of pretty good players,” Ujiri said. “Obviously Carmelo Anthony, I feel sad for the city of Denver. I feel bad that this was done on my watch to lose a guy like that, and also Chauncey.”

Point guard Chauncey Billups, a Denver native who played high school and college ball here, was also sent to the Knicks.

“You lose a star player like Melo, it’s really hard to get value back,” Ujiri said. “There’s no question about it.”

Kroenke and Ujiri mentioned Kosta Koufos, a backup center from Minnesota, who became the last part of the trade. They also apologized to Billups and his family, and said that his inclusion delayed the deal.

“He is Denver basketball,” Kroenke said.

Soon after Kroenke and Anthony played against each other, Anthony joined the N.B.A. in the same draft class as LeBron James and Chris Bosh. The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors are reeling without James and Bosh after their free-agent defections. The Nuggets, mindful of those struggles, took an alternative approach. In doing so, they acquiesced to Anthony’s desires, which may establish a difficult precedent for teams in smaller markets.

George Karl, Denver’s coach, still talked about the playoffs on Tuesday, while Cleveland and Toronto are thinking about the players that will be available in the draft’s lottery.

At least for one night, Denver’s fans seemed pleased with the developments. As the Nuggets defeated the Memphis Grizzlies, 120-107, the crowd briefly chanted, “Who needs Melo?”

The Nuggets received Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov, three draft picks and cash considerations. After the game, some of the players discussed their reactions to the trade.

Gallinari sounded sanguine as he said: “It’s a similar way to play basketball for sure, so it’s not going to be tough for that. I know a couple guys on the team and they’re great guys, so it’s not going to be tough.”

Karl, too, seemed to be looking forward. “We’re adding just as many points as we’re giving up,” he said. “Now it’s how we fit them into the picture.”

A version of this article appears in print on February 23, 2011, on page B12 of the New York edition with the headline: Nuggets Were Prepared for Trade They Didn’t Want to Make. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe